At least 18 people have been killed in several shootings in the French capital, Paris, as well as explosions at the Stade de France. At least one man opened fire with an automatic gun at the Petit Cambodge restaurant in the 11th district.
Shooting has also been heard near the Bataclan arts centre with reports of hostages have been taken there.
Three explosions are also reported outside a bar near the Stade de France, where France were hosting Germany.

According to eyewitness Jim Carroll, 67, who was walking home to his apartment on Rue Bichat at the time of the attack on the restaurants in the 10th arrondissement, there was “a loud explosion” followed by a sound like that of “Chinese fireworks – a long extended spattering that lasted for fifteen seconds.”

“Then there was another explosion and spattering that lasted for a few seconds like the first one,” he added. “Within just a minute there were the sounds of the engines.”

There’s a major, terrifying story developing in Paris right now. Bataclan, the Paris venue where Eagles Of Death Metal are playing a sold-out show tonight, has been the focus of a terrorist attack. According to the Montreal radio station CJAD, there have been several fatalities, and about 60 people are being held hostage. There are reportedly terrorist attacks happening all across Paris right now.

“It was carnage,” said Marc Coupris, 57, still shaking after being freed from the hostage-taking at the Bataclan concert venue. “It looked like a battlefield, there was blood everywhere, there were bodies everywhere. I was at the far side of the hall when shooting began. There seemed to be at least two gunmen. They shot from the balcony. Everyone scrabbled to the ground. I was on the ground with a man on top of me and another one beside me up against a wall. We just stayed still like that. At first we kept quiet. I don’t know how long we stayed like that, it seemed like an eternity. I saw my last final unfurl before me, I thought this was the end. I thought I’m finished, I’m finished. I was terrified. We must all have thought the same. Eventually, when a few gendarmes came in slowly we began to look up and there was blood absolutely everywhere. The police told us to run.”

Coupris, a legal worker, had come from Brittany with 15 friends to see the US band Eagles of Death Metal.

Jérome Boucer, shivering in the cold night wearing a white shirt splattered with the blood of the victims and wounded, said: “The concert had started. I was in the audience and I heard what sounded like a firecracker. It was loud but the gig was very loud and I thought it was something that was part of the show. I think lots of people did, too. Then they started firing. I saw what I thought was at least two people, then I fled. The exits were clearly marked and I just ran. There were wounded, there was a lot of blood. Blood everywhere.”

“It felt like a film,” said a woman in tears. who was part of his group.

“It was horrible, there were so many corpses, I just can’t talk about it,” said a bearded man in a death metal t-shirt as he ran down the street from the Bataclan in shock.

A woman in her twenties in a fur-collared coat had been drinking in a nearby bar when people fleeing the intial shooting at the Bataclan ran into the bar. “They were panicked, wounded, screaming, blood was running all over them. People were having panic attacks; it was horrific.”

The bar locked down but after police allowed it to be open again, she began running down the street towards the 3rd arrondissement to get away as fast as possible. As she and her friends ran, a young man with her in an overcoat and scarf said: “Crazy people did this. They were crazy, religious, crazy.”

Clément, an engineer, had been in a bar not far away which closed its iron shutters and everyone crouched beneath the bar. “Some people in the bar heard shots and the shutters were pulled down. It was Friday night. We were just out with friends for a pastis, as you do on Friday night. The first thing I thought of was the Charlie Hebdo attacks and terrorists. People were really afraid.”

The AP is now citing two Paris police officials as saying that security forces have ended their assault on the Bataclan, killing at least two attackers. Neither official could be named, citing ongoing operations throughout the city.

One official described “carnage” inside the building, saying the attackers had tossed explosives at the hostages. Both officials said they expected the toll of victims to rise.